The gravity support equipment of the artificial sun fusion reactor of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) organization, completely developed by China, was shipped from Zunyi in Guizhou province on Sept 11.

One of the crucial safety components of the reactor, the equipment will be installed on the dewar base. It will support magnet system weighing more than 10,000 tons and will operate under high heat stress, strong electromagnetic force and instantaneous compressive load.

One of the ITER parts contracted by Chinese enterprises, the difficult structure of the magnetic system support equipment consists of a mass of components and calls for complicated and precise installation and assembly skills.

What's more, its on-schedule delivery is critical to the assembly progress and stability of the experiment devices in later stages.

The equipment was jointly developed by the Southwestern Institute of Physics, a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corporation, and a Guizhou-based aerospace technology company of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.

The developers had previously supplied other equipment to the ITER program. The equipment shipped on Sept 11 was the fifth of its kind delivered for ITER this year and all further such products are expected to be delivered by the end of 2020.

The artificial sun project, also known as a controllable nuclear fusion facility, is a longed-for goal of global nuclear fusion researchers.

So far, ITER is the world's largest fusion reactor experimentation project.

The magnetic system support equipment jointly developed by China National Nuclear Corporation and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]